Saturday, December 30, 2006

US International Image in Disrepair, Both Politically and Sports - IHT

The ANNOTICO Report

The US with it's Political failures in Iraq and Palestine, also stumbled in the Sports arena.

The "highlight" of US sports year was tying ITALY, the eventual winner of the World Soccer Cup, AND  American Nicky Hayden managed to put an end to ITALY's Valentino Rossi's five-year dominance of motorcycle racing after Rossi crashed and Hayden did not in the final race of the MotoGP season.!!:)

In Basketball. at the world men's basketball championships in Japan, an American all- star team, stocked with the gifted likes of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, lost in the semifinals to Greece, a team with NO NBA players. Spain won the men's basketball world championship. In Brazil, the normally more reliable American women's basketball team, stacked with WNBA stars, also had to settle for third after being upset in the world championships by Russia.

In Baseball, at the inaugural World Baseball Classic, the US, home of the game's premier league, played host to the final stages, yet could not manage to make the final four.

In Tennis, for the first time in nearly a century, no American player reached the quarterfinals in singles at Wimbledon and for the first time in tennis history, there was no American women ranked in the top 20 in singles.

In Golf, at the Ryder Cup, Europe won in style for the third time in succession.

At the Winter Olympics, where the women's ice hockey team, which had never failed to reach the final of a major event, was stunned in the semifinals by Sweden.

At the World Cup, where despite Americans' growing passion for soccer, the team failed to follow on its inspiring run to the quarterfinals in 2002. This time it flopped in the first round.

In Track, sprinter, Justin Gatlin, the reigning world and Olympic champion, equaled the world record in the 100 meters only to test positive for a banned substance and finish out the year trying to land a job with a NFL team.

At the Tour de France, after the retirement of the perennial champion Lance Armstrong, Landis, won but ended up testing positive, and faces being stripped of the title.

Clearly, such happenings are not the best public relations developments for a country whose international image is in disrepair, " but what is it compared to one day of war in Iraq?" asked Jean-Philippe LeClaire, French editor.

In the Arena: 2006, a year of Ups (Europe) and Downs (U.S.)

International Herald Tribune

By Christopher Clarey

Friday, December 29, 2006

Summing up a year in sports is like summing up a year in any vast field of human endeavor. You have to be careful to avoid forcing a thread through unrelated events, and cautious about reading too much from one game into another.

But you didn't have to work too hard and long to notice the big themes emerging from the world's playgrounds in 2006.

It was a year when the greatest successes were often tempered: either by scandal ... or grief (see Tiger Woods and the European Ryder Cup team) or a rush of blood (see Zinidine Zidane). Above all, it was a year when the greatest successes proved elusive to the Americans.

Though the United States soccer team did manage to tie the eventual World Cup champion, Italy, with just nine men and plenty of guts during the first round, that was a rare point of light in a historically dark year for the country that was once the global model for how to play well together.

Just about everywhere you looked this year, there was an allegedly talented American team failing to deliver a trophy or, in some cases, even a medal in international competition.

The U.S. was afflicted in both minor and major pursuits, a reflection of the globalization of sports savoir-faire, of the greater emphasis other cultures place on national team competition and perhaps of a hunger gap between comparatively affluent, increasingly sedentary American youth and their counterparts elsewhere.

At the world men's basketball championships in Japan, an American all- star team, stocked with the gifted likes of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, became the latest to stumble, losing in the semifinals to Greece, a team with no NBA players. In Brazil, the normally more reliable American women's basketball team, stacked with WNBA stars, also had to settle for third after being upset in the world championships by Russia.

Then there was the inaugural World Baseball Classic, the overdue gathering of the globe's finest baseball countries. The United States, home of the game's premier league, played host to the final stages, yet could not manage to make the final four, which could only partly be explained by the fact that the U.S. game's spring training season had yet to end.

So it went in 2006, and so it went at the Ryder Cup, where Europe equaled its record margin of victory over Tiger Woods and the Americans to win in style for the third time in succession. So it went at the Winter Olympics, where the women's ice hockey team, which had never failed to reach the final of a major event, was stunned in the semifinals by Sweden. And so it went at the World Cup, where despite Americans' growing passion for soccer, the team failed to follow on its inspiring run to the quarterfinals in 2002. This time it flopped in the first round and got its coach, Bruce Arena, fired.

When the Americans played on their own, the results were often just as unsatisfying. The smooth-talking American sprinter, Justin Gatlin, the reigning world and Olympic champion, equaled the world record in the 100 meters only to test positive for a banned substance and finish out the year trying to land a job with a National Football League team.

Landis, an appealing figure with an intriguing backstory set in Pennsylvania's Amish country, won the first Tour de France after the retirement of the perennial champion Lance Armstrong, and after many of the top contenders, including Jan Ullrich, had been barred from the race because of doping allegations stemming from a Spanish investigation. Instead, it was Landis who ended up testing positive, and faces being stripped of the title.

Clearly, such happenings are not the best public relations developments for a country whose international image is in disrepair. "Gatlin and Landis testing positive of course didn't help, but what is it compared to a single day of war in Iraq?" said Jean-Philippe LeClaire, the editor in chief of France's L'Iquipe magazine, in a year-end forum for iht.com. "We're only talking about sport. But I also see some good things coming out of the negative, or should we say positive in this case. Thanks to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Europeans are now sure there is no more immunity for American athletes. Before, we had the feeling that there were not one but two or three different rules when it came to anti-doping: one rule for the Soviets and East Germans; one rule for the U.S. athletes and one rule for the rest of the world."

Still, Gatlin's and Landis's positive tests had much more resonance abroad than at home because of the minor status of athletics and cycling in the United States. Americans are much more concerned with doping as it applies to baseball, and Barry Bonds's continuing assault on Hank Aaron's all- time home run record stirred more debate about the substances allegedly behind his big numbers.

Woods was terrific, winning two majors and six straight tournaments despite having to cope with the death of his father and mentor, Earl, in midseason. His teary embrace of his caddie, Steve Williams, after winning the British Open was the year's sentimental apogee. The American Nicky Hayden also managed to put an end to the Italian Valentino Rossi's five-year dominance of motorcycle racing after Rossi crashed and Hayden did not in the final race of the MotoGP season.

But such excellence internationally was the American exception. Alpine skier Bode Miller, primed to be the star of the Winter Olympics, shrugged off the role and hit the bars instead of podiums, coming away with no medals as his Austrian rival, Benjamin Raich, played the leading role. For the first time in nearly a century, no American player reached the quarterfinals in singles at Wimbledon and for the first time in tennis history, there was no American women ranked in the top 20 in singles at the end of the season.

The Williams sisters' injuries and ennui certainly played a role, but there was much more to it than happenstance. "I don't think that's going to be the norm going forward that there will be no top Americans, however there's no denying the globalization trend in tennis," said Larry Scott, the head of the women's tour. "It's happening on the event side and the player side. It's not dissimilar frankly from a lot of trends in the world right now in industries where the U.S. was a dominant player when only a few nations were competing at the top. The democratization of sports and tennis has changed the paradigm forever."

The pendulum in interest and resources is swinging toward Asia, with the 2008 Beijing Olympics the most obvious source of inspiration and investment. But despite the occasional Asian exclamation point in 2006 Liu Xiang of China breaking his 110-meter hurdle world record and Shizuka Arakawa of Japan winning her country's first Olympic figure skating gold medal the year was more of a success story for Europe.

Barcelona was an appealing champion of the Champions League. England's Premier League continued to attract foreign talent and ownership. All of the semifinalists at soccer's World Cup were European, and Germany did a terrific job of galvanizing a country and generating good vibrations as host. Turin did not quite do the same for the Winter Olympics, which managed to be both too far-flung and too urban. But Germany led the medal count there over the United States. European tennis players swept all the men's and women's Grand Slam singles titles, with Roger Federer of Switzerland winning three of the four and reaching the final of the French Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Spain also won the men's basketball world championship in emotional fashion and got a second straight Formula One title from Fernando Alonso, who managed to keep his eye on the road despite the major distraction of Michael Schumacher's farewell party.

The German champion, more respected than loved, had to settle for second, and he was one of several major sports figures to retire in 2006. The Australian swimming prodigy, Ian Thorpe, stopped doing laps at age 24. Hicham el- Guerrouj of Moracco, who had not run since winning two gold medals at the 2004 Olympics, confirmed the obvious. Zidane botched his final bow after the headbutt seen around the world that spoiled France's final against Italy. But Zidane, rightly or wrongly, was still fjted at home at career's end. So was Andre Agassi, the American tennis player who played a terrific match despite his aching back to beat Marcos Baghdatis in the second round of the U.S. Open and then gave a terrific and brief farewell speech after losing in the next round.

Even in defeat, he came off a winner, which was hardly the case for most American athletes in 2006.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/29/sports/arena.php

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